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Borrowers are set to dodge a bullet on Thursday. After months of planning for an interest rate rise – the first to take British monetary policy away from emergency, crisis-era levels – the Bank of England pulled a handbrake turn in recent weeks.

The reasons shine a light on the intense uncertainty over the outlook for the UK economy, as well as the bafflement economists feel at the unusual combination of very low unemployment, weak wage growth and sluggish underlying inflation.

Mark Carney, the Bank’s Governor, has a tough task on his hands explaining his latest thoughts on that puzzle.